BIRN Regional Meeting Kicks Off

The meeting serves as an opportunity for BIRN journalists, editors and programme directors and managers to discuss their projects and current activities as well as plans for the future.

The event also allows the many guests, partners and donors who are involved in individual projects to get to know BIRN's board and to hear about the full scope of BIRN's work.

At the begining of the meeting BIRN Regional Network Director Gordana Igric welcomed participants and presented two new members of the board, Tim Judah and David Brewer. She also outlined BIRN's organisational structure.

A short presentation of the separate BIRN country organisations and their current work followed. The directors of BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN Serbia and BIRN Kosovo shed more light on their country specific activities.

The Justice Report and Justice TV projects that focus on coverage of the war crimes trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina were presented by country director Anisa Suceska-Vekic.

BIRN Kosovo head Jeta Xharra presented the sucessful current affairs TV programme dubbed "Life in Kosovo", which has atracted more than half a million vievers in the county of two million and generated substantial pablic response. The Kosovo team also presented their Prishtina Insight publication, the only english language newspaper in Kosovo that has produced groundbreaking investigations.

BIRN Serbia presented its current work, which focuses primarily on media development and good governance. Last year the local organisation launched the project Eye on Public Finances, which aims at enriching the debate about and raising the transparency of public spending. In South Serbia the organisation runs a project for building public awareness and training local journalists.

Some of BIRN's plans for the future were also discussed.

Another BIRN project, the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, in 2010 marks four years since its launch. The programe has so far traned 30 journalists from across the region who produced high quality investigative articles that were widely republished.

The BIRN hub this year opened the Culture Watch section on its Balkan Insight Web site as part of the BICCED project, which aims at boosting the quality and quantity of coverage of art and culture policy in the region as well as providing a common platform for further development of cultural policies.

BIRN Hub staff also presented the Balkaninsight.com Web site, which is currently the main BIRN platform for delivery of news and analysis.